What, you thought he was retired? Nah. Matt Kenseth is coming home to race again.

NASCAR champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth has won the Slinger Nationals a record seven times, most recently in 2016.(Photo: Dave Kallmann)

As the days wound down on his NASCAR career last fall and Matt Kenseth cared less and less whether he climbed back into a premier-level stock car, he kept his mind open to doing “some things that would be fun to do.”

“Run some late-model stuff. Go up to Slinger,” he told the Journal Sentinel in October. “Go do some things like that.”

Kenseth and the Reiser Enterprises crew celebrate his first Busch Series victory, the GM Goodwrench Service Plus 200 on Feb. 21, 1998, at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Mark Martin chats with Matt Kenseth in the garage of Darlington Raceway in 1999. Kenseth, then a Busch Series regular, drove in relief of Bobby Labonte that weekend, racing a Winston Cup car for the first time. Associated Press

Kenseth (right) and fellow Wisconsinite Dick Trickle lead the field out of the fourth turn at the Lowes Motor Speedway, to take the green flag for the start of the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2000. Associated Press

Kenseth chats with Jimmie Johnson in the garage at the Kansas Speedway in 2003. Neither had won a championship at that point, but Kenseth won that season and Johnson would win the first of his seven three years later. Getty Images

Kenseth drives Joey Logano into the Turn 1 wall at Martinsville Speedway in 2015. The action resulted in a two-race suspension for Kenseth, who retaliated after Logano had crashed him out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup during a previous race. Associated Press

Kenseth talks to the media after being penalized for having too many men over the pit wall during the Hollywood Casino 400. The penalty resulted in his elimination from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup playoffs. Getty Images

"I can't think of a better place for me to get back in a race car than Slinger,” Kenseth said in the announcement. “We've had a lot of success there, a lot of memorable moments, and I'm looking forward to going back.

“The Nationals have always been one of the major events in all of short-track racing. Certainly it was the one you wanted to win growing up in Wisconsin. Throughout the years, a lot of big names in NASCAR have raced in the Nationals. That's a testament to how big of a race this has been for some time.”

Kenseth is the all-time leader with seven Slinger Nationals titles in the event’s 37-year history.

The most recent of those victories in 2016, though, came with some regret after he roughed up then-teammate Erik Jones, ending a full-contact battle between the two with a move that “was definitely uncalled for,” Kenseth said moments after the checkered flag.

Kenseth raced part-time in NASCAR last season after he was replaced at Joe Gibbs Racing by Jones.

The 2000 rookie of the year in what was then known as Winston Cup, Kenseth won 39 times in NASCAR's premier division as well as 29 in what is now the Xfinity Series.